Retail units supplier makes trio of appointments to support growth 

A WORCESTERSHIRE company which supplies portable retail units and mobile kiosks has made three new appointments to support on-going growth in the UK and Europe.

Rapid Retail and UK Kiosks is keen to capitalise on new opportunities emerging in the retail sector both at home and abroad.

The appointments see Rachel Lyman join UK Kiosks as sales director and shareholder. She is joined by John Evans, who has been appointed as Rapid Retail’s financial controller and Naomi Labaune, who recently started as the group’s business development intern.
 
Lyman brings a wealth of experience to UK Kiosks, including managing and delivering major event projects. With ten years’ experience in the public and private sectors, she joins from Autograph Events where she spent two years as business development manager and was responsible for delivering sales strategies and planning advice to the company’s event and account management teams. 

Her specialist areas include sales and marketing, event management, client consultation and project and business development.
 
Evans joins the Rapid Retail team after nearly four years running his own finance operation where he was group finance director for various industries, including the football, construction and hotel and catering sectors.
 
Labaune, a student at the KEDGE Business School, based in Bordeaux, will be assisting the managing director in developing the business, with a particular emphasis on the French market.

Marches LEP brings in business support expert

THE Marches Local Enterprise Partnership has appointed a business support specialist as its new director.

Gill Hamer, former head of operations at Business Link West Midlands, will have a central role in working with the LEP board to help deliver its vision for economic growth across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

The director position is the first of five new roles created by the partnership, which is led by a private sector board working in partnership with the region’s three local authorities.

The LEP is tasked with creating the conditions for prosperity and sustainable job creation across the Marches.

Hamer is currently partnerships director with the Manufacturing Advisory Service and was previously head of business support at regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.

West Midlands ITA appoints strategic director

THE West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority (ITA), comprising the leaders of the seven metropolitan councils in the region, has appointed Laura Shoaf as strategic director for transport.
 
The ITA was launched in July with the aim of ensuring the West Midlands metropolitan area acts in a unified way on transport and makes the strongest possible case when seeking funding for rail, tram and road schemes to grow the local economy.
 
Shoaf will work across the seven local councils in the West Midlands and the three local enterprise partnerships for the Black Country, Greater Birmingham & Solihull and Coventry & Warwickshire to champion transport provision in the region at the highest level nationally.
 
She said: “These are exciting times for our region. The West Midlands is the UK’s largest urban area outside of London and we’re the centre of operations for HS2, we’ve got a fast growing international airport and are at the heart of the nation’s transport network.”